One Minute to Zero

Just prior to the North Korean invasion of South Korea, World War II U.S. Army veterans Colonel Steve Janowski and Sergeant Baker teach South Korean soldiers how to use a bazooka to stop an enemy tank. Linda Day of the United Nations assists refugees in the area. Janowski warns Day and her colleagues to leave the area because hostilities are imminent. Day insists that the North Koreans would not risk the wrath of the world's condemnation opinion, but Janowski counters by asking whether it had stopped Hitler.

Janowski and Air Force colonel Joe Parker find themselves under an attack that reminds them of that on Pearl Harbor. Janowski takes command of an army unit that is evacuating Americans and refugees. He falls in love with Day, but she is reluctant to become involved with a soldier because she is the widow of a Medal of Honor recipient.

Janowski is confronted by a column of refugees who have been infiltrated by armed North Korean guerrillas, and he believes that he has no choice but to order an artillery strike. He is remorseful for the civilian casualties and Day condemns him for killing innocent people. However, when she learns the reason behind Janowski's action, she apologizes.

Janowski leads a successful American counteroffensive.

The film's working title was The Korean Story. Ted Tetzlaff was the first director assigned by RKO Radio Pictures but was replaced by Tay Garnett because producer Edmund Grainger desired wanted a more recognizable name.^[7]

Claudette Colbert was cast in the lead female role but contracted pneumonia and withdrew. Grainger wanted Joan Crawford, but the role had been rewritten for a younger woman, which eventually became Ann Blyth.^[7]

Although RKO attempted to shoot second-unit footage in South Korea,^[7] One Minute to Zero was filmed at Fort Carson, Colorado, using troops of the 148th Field Artillery.^[8] During a break in production, Charles McGraw became involved in a fistfight with soldiers at a hotel bar and Mitchum attempted to stop it. In response, Army officials threatened to pull their support for the film, but producer and studio owner Howard Hughes intervened. Hughes received a great deal of military cooperation with the production of the film^[6] but refused to delete the refugee-massacre scene when military officials asked for its excision.^[9]

Victor Young's score for the film includes the first appearance of "When I Fall in Love" as an instrumental titled "Theme from One Minute to Zero". It later became a popular hit song for several singers, including Doris Day.^[10]

The film's world premiere was held in Colorado Springs, Colorado on August 12, 1952, with Mitchum and Blyth in attendance. They also performed at Camp Carson and participated in a parade.^[1]

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "Like a great many war pictures, this one is patly contrived with elements not only of romance but also of melodrama, comedy, and tears. ... 'One Minute to Zero' is a ripely synthetic affair, arranged to arouse emotions with the most easy and obvious clichés. And, although some of the battle talk sounds faithful and the inter-cut news shots are sincere, neither the story nor the performances of the actors, including Miss Blyth and Mr. Mitchum, rings true. Here is another war picture that smells of grease paint and studios."^[2]

Critic Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "In the actual development of the wartime action 'One Minute to Zero' does not rise much above the normal level attained by productions so far dealing with the Korean conflict. It is very good, at times, in indicating how ground and air forces unite their efforts, but one has the reaction that the film could have been more thorough in its depiction of the scope of the battling."^[3]